Canadian Occupational Safety (COS) magazine is the premier workplace health and safety publication in Canada. We cover a wide range of topics ranging from office to heavy industry, and from general safety management to specific workplace hazards.
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20 Canadian Occupational Safety www.cos-mag.com immediately, says Mahoney. The CNSC would need to be notifi ed and a thorough investigation would take place. He cannot return to the work- place until cleared by his doctor and the CNSC, says Mahoney. Bruce Power stopped work when alpha was discovered during the Unit 1 refurbishment in 2009, and workers did not return to the project until the area was free of contamination. TRAINING The CNSC has published an extensive regulatory guide for radiation safety training programs that all nuclear power plants are required to follow. It outlines a six-step process for develop- ing a program, including identifi cation of specifi c training needs and program design. Training for Bruce Power employees is provided internally and comes in various forms, depending on the level of risk present in each worker's role. All employees wear a coloured badge to indicate their certifi cation level, which corresponds with the level of training they have received. The fi rst level is red which indicates the worker does not have any radia- tion working rights at all. The next level is orange which means a worker can walk around the plant without having an escort but he can't do any radiation work. This is the very fundamental level and requires two days of basic "Radiation 101" training, which covers the use of con- tamination meters and facility access. A yellow badge gives a worker indi- vidual working rights, and he may or may not require radiation protec- tion supervision, depending on the nature of the risk. This qualifi cation involves three weeks' training, which covers routine radiological survey and decontamination. The top level is green and this is for people who can supervise those with a yellow badge. This requires fi ve weeks' training and covers segregation and handling of radioactive waste, hazard surveys, posting, and response and recording. All badges require an annual recertifi cation. One step in CNSC's training guide is continuous learning, and this is a very important aspect of radiation safety training, says David Shier, president of the Canadian Nuclear Workers Coun- cil in Toronto. "It just reinforces protection issues," he says. "There may be new equip- ment, new limits set at different times over the years, and people need to be kept updated on what's happening and sometimes there's lessons learned from some incidents," he says. New employees at Bruce Power receive a detailed orientation around radiation, says Hawthorne. Visitors to the site are also required to undergo radiation awareness training. "The idea being before anyone gets access to the power house, they know exactly what's in there, how it's designed and know how to use all the monitoring (devices) and obey sig- nage," he says. All contractors coming in to work on a project need appropriate radia- tion safety training as well. "I wouldn't treat a contractor any different than staff," says Mahoney. "Anyone working on the site should be aware and it could even be more important to make sure contractors are trained because you don't necessarily control them directly as an employee." When it comes to PPE, workers in nuclear power plants need conven- tional items — such as coveralls, safety glasses, ear protection, hard hats and safety footwear — but if they are in a high radiological area, they need plas- tic suits and respirators. All containers and devices that con- tain radioactive nuclear substances are labelled in accordance with WHMIS legislation. And high radiation risk areas are identifi ed with signage con- taining the radiation-warning symbol. If workers have concerns about radi- ation, they can make sure it is brought up at the joint radiation protection committee, says Shier. The require- ment to have the committee is drafted in the collective agreements between nuclear operators and the Power Workers Union, and it meets quarterly. "It allows for shop-fl oor input to any radiation protection issues," he says. "Workers actually have the right to refuse, there's a lot of processes in place, they are encouraged to bring issues to their supervisor… it's kind of ingrained into the culture." The collective agreements also include the negotiated right to shut down unsafe work at these facilities. EMERGENCIES Emergency preparedness is of the utmost importance at Bruce Power. "If we had a nuclear event such that we had a line break or a fuel channel drop, then we need to have the ability to deal with that. A lot of the opera- tional response happens by design," says Hawthorne. "We have an auto- matic shutdown system that responds in milliseconds." The perimeters of the reactors are lined with six-foot concrete walls that are two metres thick with the intent to stop radiation from escaping should something go wrong inside the reac- tor, says Saunders. After the 2011 Fukushima incident in Japan — where a massive earth- quake and tsunami killed thousands of people and destroyed a nuclear power plant — Emergency Manage- ment Ontario collaborated with Bruce Power to develop a multi-juris- dictional disaster response exercise to simulate severe weather incidents. From Oct. 15 to 19, 2012, more than 1,000 participants from 70 organiza- tions and municipalities participated in "Huron Challenge – Trillium Resolve," which simulated a tornado descending on the power plant and surrounding community. Bruce Power tested its new emergency management centre located off-site, as well as the on-site fi rst responders and security personnel in its emergency and protec- tive services division. Bruce Power has 400 employees in emergency services. OVERSIGHT The biggest distinction between nuclear power plants and other indus- tries is the amount of oversight they receive. Bruce Power has about eight people from CNSC that work on-site full time to monitor its work. Every two years, the World's Association of Nuclear Operators spends two weeks on-site and the International Atomic Energy Agency occasionally visits the site as well, says Saunders. The CNSC gives all nuclear operators a safety report card that is published on its website, so operator safety is very transparent, visual and in depth. Because their operating licenses require adherence to strict safety stan- dards, nuclear power plants deem safety as "number 1" and allot funds to major safety programs, says Shier. This helps make sure that safety is top of mind for workers as soon as they start in the industry. "When you go into a nuclear plant, you'll see the safety culture. People go about things safely: They're wearing their PPE, they're conscious of health and safety issues, if someone steps into an area they'll tell you, 'Don't go over there.' It's an enshrined safety culture," he says. Bruce Power has a "non-incrim- inating culture" and is constantly reminding people to ask questions, not take shortcuts and stop work if they are unsure, says Saunders. "We praise people who make those kinds of decisions," he says. Every quarter, the company con- ducts a safety culture panel that reviews OHS trends. Every three to four years it conducts a major safety culture assess- ment that surveys all staff members. "That's where we can pick out peo- ple's attitudes," says Saunders. "So if we fi nd in there that somehow we're driving a message that's inappropri- ate, and that people are going in the wrong direction, we can do something to correct it." POTENTIAL RADIATION EXPOSURE 0.05 mSv - transcontinental fl ight from Toronto to London 0.1 mSv - typical dose during one chest X-ray 1.12 mSv - average annual dose for a Nuclear Energy Worker at Bruce Power in 2013 1.8 mSv - average annual dose from natural sources in Canada 10 mSv - typical exposure for medical diagnosis of upper and lower gastrointestinal series